Blog-from the workshop

We recently were asked to make a special door for a special family, to help them with something difficult. We decided to make the door and donate it as well. It just seemed like the right thing to do.

It's events like that which really help us realise that the doors we make and send off to their new homes are not only played with by their new owners, but in some cases those doors also help make a real difference to the family.

Sometimes it's to help provide an incentive for good behaviour (Keep your room clean and maybe the fairies will bring you something). Sometimes it's a learning tool (writing letters to the fairies for writing/reading practice).

And sometimes it's something a little bit more. The doors become a symbol, almost a talisman. Maybe they are designed to remind people of the old country, maybe they incorporate family values, much loved traditions.

Essentially, they provide a tangible way to engage with ideas and memories. Abstraction becomes materialised.

We send out these doors daily. We don't always know what happens to them, but every now and then people share warm and special little stories with us., which move us, sometimes to tears.

We feel pretty lucky that we get to be part of people's lives in this way.